Waitin' On a Woman
by Explorer of the Unknown
Summary: Sitting on a bench at the mall, Trent finds himself in the anxiety-ridden process of waiting for his date to arrive. Not feeling all too confident after the way his last relationship went, he ends up receiving sound advice from a source he never imagined. Based on the Brad Paisley song of the same name.


**I do not own Total Drama.**

 **This story was inspired by Brad Paisley's song, "Waitin' On a Woman," which I highly recommend even if you're not into country music. I bet Trent would like it.**

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"Umm, hey there it's me. I just, wanted to let you know that I'm where we said we'd meet up and you're running late. I'll be, waiting for you when you get here, bye."

Having finished his message, Trent pocketed his phone and leaned back on the bench he was sitting on. He sighed as he stared at the skylight in the mall's ceiling. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all."

Trent Dylan was about to have his first real date in a very long time and was more than a little nervous when he thought about how it would go. He never used to have such a problem but when his last, meaningful relationship ended rather badly a few years ago, he found it hard to be confident. The fact that his date appeared to be a no show was not helping matters.

He glanced at his watch. Twenty-eight minutes past the time they agreed to see each other. That explained why he felt his bottom begin to fall asleep. His fingers began to twitch in restlessness too which made him regret not bringing his guitar along with him. At least then he'd be able to practice his favorite pastime.

Trent took his phone out once more and debated whether or not he should call her again.

"I'd better not," he decided placing it back into his pocket. "I've already left like three messages. Any more and she probably won't show up at all." He now regretted not picking her up like he had initially offered but she had insisted that she could get there herself and he shouldn't waste gas going all the way to her house. Trent remembering that it was the twenty-first century decided to respect her wishes but was currently not happy about doing so.

More time went by and more people began to glance at Trent as he continued to wait on the bench. Now he was staring at his shoes gloomily. What was keeping her? No call, no text, nothing explaining her absence.

Trent closed his eyes. "I guess I really did jump back into the game too soon," he muttered. After what felt like a minute or so he decided to get up and go drown his sorrows in junk food when a voice spoke up and stopped him from moving.

"Is this seat taken?"

Trent looked up to see a man who looked to be around his father's age standing before him. The man had a roundish face, messy brown hair and green eyes that didn't appear that different from his own. The way he dressed reminded honestly Trent of his friend Rodney, overalls and a flannel shirt. He smiled kindly at Trent before pointing to the bench and repeating himself.

"Is this seat taken?"

Trent shook his head in reply and moved himself down to give the man some room to sit. He did so and for whatever reason, Trent did not know, began to look the younger man up and down.

"You waitin' on a woman?" he asked and before Trent could catch himself, he laughed.

"Is it that obvious?" Trent didn't express emotions such as worry or anxiety that often, so when he did it wasn't easy for him to conceal it. Obviously there'd be no point in hiding anything from this gentleman who laughed along with him.

"What about you?" the younger man asked in turn.

"Son all my life I've been waitin' on a woman," he answered jovially now leaning back and crossing his legs in a relaxed manner. "Believe me, it's definitely one of those things that gets easier the more times you do it."

"You really think so?" Trent couldn't help but ask.

"I know so," the man replied, giving Trent a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Tell me, how long have you been waitin' today?"

Trent took a minute to peer at his watch once again. "About forty-six minutes," he said with the smallest hint of bitterness. This did not go unnoticed by his new acquaintance.

"This your first date with her?" he asked. Trent nodded and the man pat his back. "Then you've got nothing to worry about kiddo. Other men have waited longer and their patience was rewarded."

"Does that include you?" Trent asked. The man answered with a nod and his smile grew. "I was about a couple years younger than you are now when I went out with my wife for the first time," he said. "I had told her to be ready for me at seven and it was a quarter past eight by the time she finally came down the stairs." He laughed as he ran a hand through his hair. "I had over an hour to talk to her parents and her old man still didn't like me!"

He then nudged Trent gently. "But I'll tell you this," he smiled. "The second I saw her and how pretty she looked, I knew that all that waiting wasn't for nothing."

"So, do you think that might be the same for me?" Trent asked. "That she's only taking so long to get here because she's trying to look perfect or something?"

"What is she like?" the gentleman asked in turn and Trent suddenly felt a smile of his own take shape.

"Well, she's not exactly easy to describe to be honest," he replied. "Sometimes she can be really eager and friendly. Other times she's so shy that it's hard to tell if she's actually said something or not. But when she does get comfortable around someone to talk, she's probably the nicest girl in the world." Trent's smiles was now growing wider and wider with every word as he thought more about her. "She doesn't think too much of herself," he went on. "But boy, can she shower other people with praise."

"Does that include you son?" the man asked.

Trent nodded as he suddenly remembered how much she applauded for him the first time he played for her. "Yeah. Yeah it does."

It was then he started to hate himself for doubting her. So she was late, so what? She wasn't the kind of person who would stand someone up, he knew her well enough to be sure of that.

Resolving to keep on waiting, Trent stretched his arms and leaned back on the bench and found that the man beside him had gotten up.

"Sorry kiddo," the man said sincerely. "But it looks like my wait's just about over so I better get going."

Trent looked around but didn't see anyone approaching the area, just more people going in and out of different stores. He decided to shrug it off. His wife had probably texted and Trent merely hadn't noticed.

"Hold on," he reached forward and managed to stop the man before he took off. "I'd just like to thank you for telling me all that. I'm not normally so impatient and you helped me remember that there's really no need for me to be."

The man smiled. "You're welcome Trent."

As he started to walk off, Trent realized something; he had never told the man his name. He also didn't look to be the type who watched any kind of reality show, let alone Total Drama so, how did he know?

"Oh and hey," the man called. "You make sure you tell your gram that I'd better not see her too soon. I know for a fact that she's got quite a bit of life still in her so she better not throw any of it away."

Trent's eyes shot open with a start and he immediately stood up from the bench. "Hey, hold on a second!" he shouted, not caring how loud his voice was or who could hear him. "Just how do you know me? Or my gram?"

The man stopped walking and turned around, merely continuing to smile without saying anything. Before Trent could say another word, he snapped his fingers and a blinding flash of white light erupted from him. The light was so powerful, Trent had to shut his eyes out of fear of damaging his sight. After a few seconds, he opened them to see a different man now before him; shorter, older and dressed all in white but wearing a gentle smile just like the previous man's. Trent suddenly felt himself shaking, unable to believe what was in front of him. He honestly wanted to cry when he saw this new person standing a few small feet away from him.

"G-Granddad?"

The older man strode over to him and without warning, wrapped his arms around him in a warm embrace.

"Hello Trent."

There were so many things that Trent wanted to do at the moment he knew that he was with his beloved grandfather once again. He wanted to sing, to dance, to shout. He wanted to do so much but all he could do was just stare, his mind barely able to register what was happening. The old man pulled away slightly.

"Well?" he asked, not unkindly. "You just gonna gape at me boy, or are you gonna hug your old granddad back?"

That did it for Trent. Tears flowing furiously from his eyes he hugged his grandfather with great gusto. "I've missed you so much!" he choked out. "W-What are you doing here? _How_ are you even here?"

Trent's grandfather rubbed the young man's back gently, allowing him to cry into his shoulder as he explained. "We're in a dream right now son. Every now and then the big man upstairs will let some of us enter the dreams of those we've left behind. Can't be done too often, but I think you and I were long overdue for a talk."

Trent pulled away and began to wipe his eyes. "Wait," he sniffed. "You mean that I'm asleep right now?"

The old man nodded. "Well you were waiting for quite awhile so I'm not surprised. Your uncle Paul fell asleep a time or two whenever Linda dragged him to places like this. But I've only got so much time so I can't into detail about that."

Trent opened his mouth to protest as he very much wanted to hear one of his old stories but kept silent when his grandfather placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I know that the whole idea of relationships can seem frightening after what you went through Trent," he said. "But you can't let it scare you away from something that might be great. I don't know if it will be great but that is why you must wait, it really is the only way to find out."

This is what Trent missed the most after his grandfather's passing. Even more than the man's unconditional support of his dreams and ambition in music, he missed just being able to talk to him about his problems. Talking to him after so many years gave Trent a wonderful feeling he had not had in a long time; true peace both inside and out.

Trent looked back up with a smile but was soon shocked to see his grandfather suddenly fading away. "Wait! What, what's going on?"

Despite literally disappearing, the serene expression didn't leave the old man's face. "I'm afraid you're waking up kiddo," he replied. "So that means I've gotta get back to my bench upstairs and get back to waiting."

Trent couldn't believe this. Reunited with the person he most admired and aspired to be like for a few minutes only to be separated a second time? It was beyond unfair!

"Wait Granddad!" he called out. " Please! I want to keep talking! Just a little bit longer! Don't go! Don't go!"

And then everything went black.

"Trent? Trent, are you okay? Please, wake up!"

Trent's eyes opened with a start as his entire body shook. "Please don't go!"

The young woman who had been trying to rouse him from his slumber blinked her teal eyes in confusion. "Go?" she asked. "Why would I go? I just got here."

Rubbing his tired eyes, Trent was disheartened when the reality that his grandfather was now gone for a second time hit him. It truly felt bittersweet to see him again, only for him to disappear as quickly as he had come. A classic example of irony and Trent did not like it in the least.

With his head down, Trent soon noticed a hand placed on his right knee and peered up to look at who it belonged to. Once he did, his expression made a complete turnabout from glum to awed. "Wow." Standing in front of him was the girl he had been waiting for and she was looking quite different than how she normally did. And to Trent, this was one of the cases where different was definitely a good thing.

Samantha "Sammy" Murphy was wearing both a look of concern and a gorgeous black sundress patterned with several flowers of varying colors. But what her date found to be most breathtaking about her was her hair. Instead of going past her shoulders, which is how she normally kept, it had been cut to a beautiful bob and Trent was finding it hard not to stare.

"Are you all right?" she asked him worriedly. He silently nodded and she stood back up. Looking away from him now, she nervously began to tap her fingers together.

"That, that's good," she quietly mumbled. Before Trent could respond to her, she swiftly bowed her head to him and clasped her hands firmly. "I am so, so, _so_ very sorry for making you wait so long! I swear, I wanted to get here as soon as possible but things kept happening!"

Trent raised his brows and had to force himself not to laugh. He swore that if he had not known Sammy any better, she was doing this on purpose. He had hardly seen _any_ girl look so cute before! But with one look at apologetic eyes, eyes that looked wrought with uneasiness, he could tell she was being genuine. But then again, he never knew her not to be.

"Sammy relax," he said not standing up from the bench. He placed one of his hands under her chin and raised her up to where she was looking up at him. "It's okay."

Sammy furiously shook her head and nearly looked as if she were on the verge of tears. "It isn't okay!" she protested. "I kept you waiting for over an hour! Anne Maria and Lindsay wouldn't stop arguing over what I should do with my hair and Amy stole my phone before I could call you!"

She sniffed as her expression slightly darkened at the thought of her real, evil twin. "I'm sure that if she had figured out my password she would've tried to text something horrible! I hate that her apartment's in the same building as mi-"

Sammy was cut off as Trent enveloped her in a soft and gentle embrace. "It's okay," he repeated, now rubbing her back. "I'll admit, I was pretty worried about whether or not you'd show but I should've known better. You're here now, and that's all I care about. Okay?"

He pulled away and could feel his heart melt at the sight of how heavily she was blushing. She wiped her eyes and smiled back at him.

"Okay," she replied. Unfortunately another grimace made its way to her face. "But now we've missed the movie. What'll we do?"

Trent gave a simple shrug. "Eh, there'll be another showing soon enough," he said. "We could always go to the bookstore. Chat with Dawn, get on Noah's nerves..." It was then that an idea came to him and he made no effort to hide the grin that came along with it. "Better yet, why don't we go to that karaoke place Cody was talking about? The one he took Sky to last weekend."

Somehow, Sammy's face grew even redder than it already was. "Karaoke?" she squeaked. "Y-You wanna hear _me_ sing?"

Her date happily nodded and extended his hand towards her. "Don't worry," he said. "They offer private rooms so you won't be up in front of a lot of people, just me. That alright?"

Still looking a little nervous Sammy hesitated, but then smiled and took his hand. "Yeah," she replied. "Sounds great."

As the two walked together, Trent couldn't help but smile and look up a little. _"Thanks Granddad,"_ he thought. _"You were right. If this is what waiting will bring me, then I don't think I'm really gonna mind it too much."_

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 **Constructive criticism is appreciated. I hope all who read this enjoyed it and have a Happy Father's Day with their families.**


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